Volcán Santa Maria

Shaun has a cold, and his resulting snoring helped keep me up most of the night. The balance of the sleeplessness was fearing sleeping through the 5AM alarm I set, because Chilli Tours was picking us up at 5:30 to start the hike by 6AM.

Xela sits at 2335m above sea level, and the summit of Santa Maria is 3770m. The relentless, increasingly difficult hike to the top took only 2 hours and 45 minutes. All claims that Ben and I had to mountaineering macho were dashed when we ended up just barely keeping ahead of a group of Mayan women and girls en route to the summit as well. The difference was, these women were completing the same ascent in full-length dresses and open-heeled shoes. Santa Maria is a sacred place to the locals, and they often ascend early in the morning to pray and sometimes offer sacrifices.

We started under and ascended through cloud, but the skies cleared by the time we reached the summit. Once on top, we quickly found a seat to the West of the summit, overlooking another active volcano nearby. 1,000 metres higher, Santa Maria afforded a good view of the active crater, which lets off a blast once or twice per hour. We could make out the volcanoes surrounding Atitlán to the South. While I would not have said so at the top, I get the feeling that hiking one of them is the next to-do on my list.